INVESTIGATION ON THE ROLE OF SUPERVISION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN PRIMARY SCHOOL SETTING

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1   BACKGROUND OF STUDY

Supervision is one of the administrative tools that individuals and groups of people use in the day-to-day administration of their work or organizations (Nyarko, 2009), and according to Segun (2004), the quality of school supervision in modern school institutions requires a lot of attention because many people are now more aware than in the past about the value of education. As a result, there is a lot of interest in the school system's day-to-day functioning (Bessong and Ojong, 2009). According to Hismanoglu and Hismanoglu (2010), there is difficulty in agreeing on a clear definition of the word "educational supervision" because of variations in orientations, perceptions, knowledge, and familiarity with components of the framework, as well as analysis of its content. Daresh (2001) defines educational supervision as a dynamic process that leads to the study and improvement of all factors affecting the education situation, while Kilminster, Jolly, and Van der Vleuten (2007) define educational supervision as the provision of guidance and feedback on matters of personal, professional, and educational development in the context of the trainee's experience.

According to Segun (2004), supervision is defined as the encouragement of instructors' professional growth and development, the selection and modification of educational objectives, instructional materials, teaching techniques, and the assessment of instruction (Bessong and Ojong, 2009). Dodd (2008) defines supervision as counseling, directing, rejuvenating, encouraging, stimulating, improving, and supervising certain groups with the goal of gaining their cooperation in order for supervisors to be effective in their supervisory activities (Bessong and Ojong, 2009). According to Bailey (2006), modern educational supervision is defined as a technological process that tries to improve teaching and learning via the care, direction, and simulation of continuing growth for not just teachers but also any other individual who has an influence on the educational setting. Bailey (2006) sees educational supervision as a multi-stage collaborative process that accepts many perspectives that represent the correct interaction between the supervisor and the teacher in order to address educational challenges and discover acceptable solutions.

Various functions of educational supervision can be outlined from definitions (Smith, 2005), and according to Hismanoglu and Hismanoglu (2010), these functions are classified into six major categories: curriculum development, supervision and organization of the educational setting, supervision of teachers' professional development, supervision of teaching methods and techniques, supervision of novice teachers, and evaluation of educational processes.

Other reasons for educational supervision outlined by Nwaogu (2006) include improving incompetent teachers, providing guides for staff development, assisting teachers in seeing the problems and needs of students and assisting them in solving these problems and providing as much as possible for the majority of their needs, enlisting the cooperation of all staff members in serving their own needs and those of others to prevent teaching difficulties, and knowing the effectiveness of classroom management (Bessong and Ojong, 2009). According to Alemayehu (2008), supervision in most schools throughout the world has concentrated on teacher inspection and control since the era of neoscientific management. When supervision is carried out in a style that emphasizes guidance and growth rather than judgment and criticism, it will go a long way toward improving performance (Wilkinson, 2010). This demonstrates that the improvement of the teaching learning process is dependent on teacher attitudes toward supervision, and it should be noted that unless teachers view supervision as a process of promoting professional growth and student learning, supervisory practice will not produce the desired results.

1.2   STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Nigeria's basic education program has experienced a number of issues over the years, and it appears that the problem with the Nigerian educational program is not necessarily one of adequate knowledge and policies, but rather one of effective program implementation and oversight. Supervision may be viewed as an interaction including some form of pre-existing connection between and among individuals, in which people affect one another. According to Obayan (2008), one of the problems is the situation of relenting effort in the teaching of English language in primary schools; this is a situation in which primary school teachers show less concern about teaching English language, all of which contribute to poor pupil performance in tests. Supervisors' inability to coordinate instructors' efforts might likewise be viewed as an issue. Another issue may be a difficulty in understanding the value of persons as human beings, which may lead to an inability to create mutual trust between themselves and their teachers. Finally, while various studies have been conducted on instructional supervision, not a single study has been conducted on the function of supervision in the development of English language in a primary school context. This study attempts to investigate the function of supervision in the development of English language in a primary school context based on this concept.

1.3   OBJECTIVES OF STUDY

The main aim of the study is to examine the role of supervision in the development of English language. Other objectives of the study include;

i.          To  evaluate  the extent to which supervision affect the teaching of English language in primary school.

ii.        To ascertain the factors affecting the supervision of English language teachers in primary schools.

iii.      To determine the effect of supervision on English language teachers in primary school setting.

iv.      To  recommend strategies for improving supervision of primary schools in Nigeria.

1.4      RESEARCH QUESTIONS        

The research is guided by the following questions:      

i.          What is the extent to which supervision affect the teaching of English language in primary school?

ii.        What are the factors affecting the supervision of English language teachers in primary schools?

iii.      What are the effect of supervision on English language teachers in primary school setting?

iv.      What are the  strategies for improving supervision of primary schools in Nigeria?

1.65  SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

The study on the role of supervision in the development of English language will be of immense benefit to the entire primary school and also the government in the sense that the government will see the need of regular supervision of teachers in primary schools. l.The study will provide school administrators and managers on the need to revamp their instructional supervision as this is necessary for the attainment of UBE programme. The study will also be useful to State Universal Basic Education Board as it will provide them with information that will assist them improve the training of teachers, providing teachers  with adequate instructional material and payment of teachers salaries as this can motivate them to ensure the effective implementation of UBE programme. The study will also enable the teachers to be more dedicated to their job knowing full well that at any time they can be supervised or checked at their activities and more also anyone that is found wanting could be dealt with severely. Finally, the study will contribute to the body of existing literature and knowledge to this field of study and basis for further research.  

1.7   SCOPE OF STUDY

The study on the role of supervision in the development of English language is limited to Primary setting.. The study will further discuss the level of supervision prevalent in primary education and ascertain strategies that can be used to improve primary education supervision. The study is however delimited to selected primary school in Echie Local government in River State.

1.7 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Like in every human endeavour, the researchers encountered slight constraints while carrying out the study. The significant constraint was the scanty literature on the subject owing that it is a new discourse thus the researcher incurred more financial expenses and much time was required in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature, or information and in the process of data collection, which is why the researcher resorted to a limited choice of sample size covering onlyselected primary school in Echie Local government in River State. Thus findings of this study cannot be used for generalization for other primary schools  in other  states within Nigeria. Additionally, the researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work will impede maximum devotion to the research. Howbeit, despite the constraint  encountered during the  research, all factors were downplayed in other to give the best and make the research successful.

1.8   DEFINITION OF TERMS

Instructional Supervision: Instructional supervision is the work of ensuring the implementation of the educational mission of a school by overseeing, equipping, and empowering teachers to provide meaningful learning experiences for students.

School Head Supervision: The instructional supervisory activities by the school head include: checking of teachers' lesson notes, scheme of work, pupils' notes, teachers' punctuality, teachers' regularity in class, classroom observation, demonstration, conferencing, workshop, micro-teaching, moderation of examination question papers and grading of student.

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